Culture plays a vital role in second language learning. This paper presents an action research study that investigates the role of culture in a Chinese language program in a kindergarten classroom. Three topics have been explored: (a) culture as the core in the development of a thematic unit on Chinese festivals, (b) a culturally responsive…

Although the use of translation in learning a foreign language is much maligned by language teachers, translation is widely used in learners' foreign language learning process. It appears that learners often use translation as a learning strategy to comprehend, remember, and produce a foreign language. However, relatively little research attention…

This study investigated the experience of learners enrolled on an Open University (UK) French course, and included personality factors, motivation, and tutor and student roles. The data gathered via multiple elicitation methods gave useful insights into issues of special relevance to distance language education, in particular the lack of fit…

This paper outlines the 4-tiered evaluation and classroom practices of one English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher related to writing abilities that involve the use of audiocassettes that integrate writing, reading, speaking, and listening from pre-writing to teacher evaluation and student remediation. Daily instruction includes writing,…

A study investigated the applicability of the theory of tentative developmental stages in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) development (TDS), which posits specific sequences for specific language features and hypothesizes developmental stages that cut across those sequences. The six stages are defined by specified combinations of three speech…

Research on second language learning has shown that several myths about how children learn languages exist. Among these mistaken ideas are that: (1) children learn second languages quickly and easily; (2) the younger the child, the more skilled he will become in acquiring a second language; (3) the more time students spend in a second language…

The case study of a 5-year-old Taiwanese child, newly arrived in the United States with no English skills, focuses on the effect that parent and teacher expectations have on the child's acquisition of English literacy skills. Data were gathered in home and classroom visits, in formal and semi-structured interviews, and from samples of the child's…

In order to teach anything, two fundamental questions must be asked and answered continually: What should be taught, and how should it be taught? The answer to the second question is highly dependent on the answer to the first, but the present answer to the first question is inadequate and inappropriate to today's communication tools. Language…

This paper explores the need for radical reform in the training of foreign language teachers. This change would provide language teachers with an understanding of the social and psychological aspects of language learning, especially motivation; the nature of linguisitc systems and how individuals create and use them; and the relationship of…

The principles of the cognitive theory of learning are analyzed and applied to the process of second language learning. They are then evaluated in terms of the extent to which they contribute to a coherent theory and the extent to which they can be applied to instruction in general and second language instruction in particular. Recent empirical…

A study of the information gained by students in the process of taking a cloze test in English as a second language was conducted with 34 full-time undergraduate foreign students at a state university. The subjects came from a variety of native language backgrounds. A 35-item cloze test was developed in which every eighth word was deleted,…

Children's English as second language learning strategies and teachers' role in helping children to acquire English were investigated. Three sisters in grades 2, 3, and 4 were observed for a total of 12 hours each in their regular classrooms during the beginning of their first year in an American school. Successful cognitive and social learning…

This special issue focuses on the nature of the reading process, the nature of language, and the nature of the relationships between them. Specific topics discussed include the bias of language in speech and writing, the functions of language, trends in second-language-acquisition research, learning about psycholinguistic processes by analyzing…

The fact that some people learn a second language more easily than others has prompted numerous studies designed to link one factor or another with successful language learning. This work examines a large number of these studies to assess the importance of various factors involved in language learning. The influencing factors suggested are grouped…

This paper discusses the kinds of vocabulary items retained by a group of native German speakers in the context of an English language proficiency examination. Its main purpose is to indicate the kind of information that can be gathered using cloze procedures, with the aim to integrate this information into further learning strategies for the…